The Rite of Passage
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Find your place in the story of faith

A rich, 32-lesson Catholic formation journey for adults entering or deepening their faith — blending doctrine, sacraments, prayer, and interior life into one integrated path to full communion with the Church.

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The Rite of Passage

"You don't have to arrive knowing — you just have to arrive willing, and this journey will meet you there."Leigh Baumann

What you'll learn

What you'll be able to do

  • Explain the core doctrines of the Catholic faith — God, Jesus, salvation, and the Church — in your own words and with personal conviction
  • Navigate the full sacramental life of the Church, understanding the meaning, structure, and grace of each sacrament from Baptism to the Eucharist
  • Develop a consistent, personal prayer life that includes liturgical prayer, the Rosary, and contemplative practices rooted in Catholic tradition
  • Prepare for and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation with a well-formed conscience and an understanding of God's mercy and spiritual renewal
  • Practice discernment — recognizing God's movement in daily life, navigating moral decisions, and growing through spiritual dryness and interior struggle
  • Enter full communion with the Catholic Church — or recommit to it — with a clear sense of vocation, community belonging, and a mission-driven faith

How it works

A school that adapts to you

This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.

We learn your level

A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.

Lessons adapt as you go

Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.

Your AI coach keeps you moving

Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.

The curriculum

What's inside your school

7 modules · 35 lessons

1

Awakening & Foundations

Opens the entire formation journey by addressing the universal human hunger for meaning and progressively revealing the Catholic understanding of God, Jesus, salvation, and the Church. This phase establishes the theological and relational prerequisites every later module depends on. Sequencing audit: 'What Is Faith?' is moved to follow 'Who Is God?' and precede 'The Story of Salvation' so learners have a working definition of faith before they engage salvation history. 'The Church as Living Body' is retained last as the natural bridge into the sacramental phase.

  • 1.1The Search for MeaningIncluded
  • 1.2Who Is God?Included
  • 1.3What Is Faith?Included
  • 1.4The Story of SalvationIncluded
  • 1.5Jesus: Historical and LivingIncluded
  • 1.6The Church as Living BodyIncluded
2

Sacraments & Sacred Life

Builds directly on the ecclesial foundation of Phase 1 by revealing how God's grace is mediated through the seven sacraments — with focused depth on Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, and extended attention to the Mass as the summit of Catholic life. Sequencing audit: 'Introduction to the Sacraments' correctly precedes individual sacraments. The Mass lessons (Parts 1 & 2) are retained after the Eucharist lesson so learners understand the theology before the rite. Gap filled: the draft omitted Marriage and Holy Orders as sacraments entirely (they appear only later under vocations). A dedicated 'Sacraments Overview' lesson now briefly surveys all seven to prevent a false impression that the Church has only three sacraments.

  • 2.1Introduction to the SacramentsIncluded
  • 2.2Baptism and New IdentityIncluded
  • 2.3Confirmation and the Holy SpiritIncluded
  • 2.4Eucharist: The Heart of the ChurchIncluded
  • 2.5The Mass Explained — Structure and FlowIncluded
  • 2.6The Mass Explained — Spiritual Meaning and ParticipationIncluded
3

Prayer & Interior Life

Having established doctrine and sacrament, this module turns inward — forming learners in the actual practice of prayer so that faith becomes lived relationship. Covers foundational prayer theology, the Church's classic prayers, Marian prayer, the Rosary, the saints, and practical habit-formation. Sequencing audit: 'Introduction to Prayer' and 'Common Prayers of the Church' correctly precede the Rosary, which presupposes familiarity with the Hail Mary and the mysteries. Gap filled: the draft had no lesson on contemplative or meditative prayer (Lectio Divina, Ignatian imagination, silence) — a 'Contemplative Prayer and Listening' lesson is added after 'Building a Daily Prayer Life' to address the target outcome of 'contemplative practices rooted in Catholic tradition.'

  • 3.1Introduction to PrayerIncluded
  • 3.2Common Prayers of the ChurchIncluded
  • 3.3The Rosary and Marian PrayerIncluded
  • 3.4Mary and Spiritual MotherhoodIncluded
  • 3.5The Communion of SaintsIncluded
  • 3.6Building a Daily Prayer LifeIncluded
  • 3.7Contemplative Prayer and ListeningIncluded
4

Discernment & Inner Transformation

With prayer habits being formed, learners are now equipped to turn inward and engage the deeper work of moral and spiritual growth. This module addresses discernment, sin, conscience, temptation, and spiritual dryness — forming the interior life that makes the Sacrament of Reconciliation (next module) genuinely transformative rather than merely procedural. Sequencing audit: the draft's order is sound. Gap filled: the draft had no lesson bridging discernment methods and Scripture/tradition resources for moral decision-making — a gap that left the conscience formation lesson incomplete. Activities now integrate both Ignatian and Augustinian discernment frameworks.

  • 4.1What Is Discernment?Included
  • 4.2Sin and Interior DisorderIncluded
  • 4.3Conscience and Moral FormationIncluded
  • 4.4Temptation, Freedom, and ChoiceIncluded
  • 4.5Spiritual Dryness and GrowthIncluded
5

Sacraments of Healing & Grace

With a well-formed conscience and discernment skills established, learners are now fully prepared to engage the Sacrament of Reconciliation — not as a religious formality but as a genuinely transformative encounter with God's mercy. This module also introduces the Anointing of the Sick to complete the Church's sacramental response to human suffering and vulnerability. Gap filled: the draft omitted the Anointing of the Sick entirely — a significant gap for a healing sacraments module and for adult candidates who may have family members in need of it.

  • 5.1Confession (Reconciliation) ExplainedIncluded
  • 5.2Preparing for ConfessionIncluded
  • 5.3Mercy and Spiritual RenewalIncluded
6

Lived Catholic Life

Faith now moves from interior formation to exterior expression: how does being Catholic shape daily moral decisions, parish belonging, vocation, and service in the world? This module addresses the fully-formed Catholic life that the target outcomes call for. Sequencing audit: 'Moral Life and Christian Freedom' correctly opens the module as the ethical framework; vocations and service follow naturally. Gap filled: the draft had no lesson on Catholic Social Teaching — essential for the target outcome of 'mission-driven faith' and for distinguishing authentic service from mere volunteerism.

  • 6.1Moral Life and Christian FreedomIncluded
  • 6.2Catholic Social TeachingIncluded
  • 6.3The Church Community and Parish LifeIncluded
  • 6.4Orders, Vocations, and Church RolesIncluded
  • 6.5Service, Mission, and Living FaithIncluded
7

Integration & Mission

The culminating module brings the entire journey full circle: learners integrate all that has been received, practiced, and discovered into a coherent personal faith identity and a concrete forward commitment. The 'Questions Wall' from Lesson 1 is revisited. Letters written to future selves are returned. The course closes not with an ending but with a commissioning. Sequencing audit: the two draft lessons are retained and deepened. Gap filled: there was no explicit 'mystagogy' orientation lesson — the post-initiation period — which is a required component of the OCIA process. A 'Mystagogy and Ongoing Formation' lesson is added to address what comes after the Easter Vigil.

  • 7.1Pilgrimage and Spiritual JourneyIncluded
  • 7.2Integration and CommitmentIncluded
  • 7.3Mystagogy and Ongoing FormationIncluded

Who it's for

Is this you?

The OCIA inquirer

You're drawn to the Catholic Church but have more questions than answers — this course walks with you from 'Who is God?' all the way to the threshold of full communion.

The returning Catholic

You've been away from the Church and are finding your way back — this course helps you re-engage with the faith as a thoughtful, fully formed adult rather than picking up where a childhood catechism left off.

The cradle Catholic seeking depth

You received your sacraments young but always felt the formation didn't quite take root — now you're ready to understand the faith from the inside, in your own words.

The OCIA sponsor

You're walking alongside someone entering the Church and want to be the kind of guide who truly understands the journey — not just the schedule.

The parish team leader

You lead or support an OCIA program and need a structured, substantive modern resource to enrich what happens in your sessions and equip your catechists.

The spiritually curious spouse or partner

Your partner is Catholic and you want to understand their faith from the inside — this course gives you a genuine, honest, unhurried introduction to what the Church actually believes and practices.

Questions

Frequently asked

Your teacher

A note from your teacher

Leigh Baumann

Leigh Baumann

If you're reading this, something has already stirred in you. Maybe it's a longing you've carried for years — a sense that there's more to life than what you can see and measure. Maybe a person you love is Catholic and you want to understand what they believe from the inside. Maybe you received your sacraments as a child and now, as an adult, you're realizing you've never really been formed — that the faith you were handed was a seed that never had the conditions to grow. Wherever you're starting from, I want you to know: you are exactly the person this course was made for.

I built The Rite of Passage because I kept meeting people in that in-between place — drawn toward the Church but not yet at home in it, or technically Catholic but spiritually hungry in a way they couldn't name. What they needed wasn't more facts delivered from a lectern. They needed a guide who could walk alongside them through doctrine and prayer and sacrament and inner struggle — treating every topic as something alive, not archived. That's what I've tried to create here: thirty-two lessons that take you seriously as an adult human being who is asking real questions about God, meaning, mercy, and how to live.

We start at the beginning — not because you're ignorant, but because the beginning is where the most important things live. Who is God, really? What is faith, as opposed to mere belief? What is this Church claiming to be, and does the claim hold? From there we move through the full sacramental life, into prayer and its many forms, into the harder territory of conscience and discernment and spiritual dryness — because the interior life is not always consoling, and you deserve to be prepared for that. We move through Confession not as an obligation but as an encounter with mercy. We land in what the Church calls Mystagogy — the ongoing unfolding of a mystery you have entered, not completed.

The one objection I hear most often is this: I'm not sure I'm ready. I want to answer that directly. Readiness, in the spiritual life, is not a prerequisite — it's a destination. You don't have to arrive knowing. You have to arrive willing. That is enough. This course will meet you there.

Come as you are. Bring your questions, your doubts, your history, your hope. There is a place set for you in this story — and this is the journey that will help you find it.

Leigh Baumann

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  • 7 modules, 35 lessons
  • AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
  • Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
  • Your own AI learning coach
  • Learn on any device, at your pace
  • Full access for as long as you're subscribed